Nigerian painting fetches £1.1 million after Google search
By : AFP
Date:
15 October 2019 9:21pm WAT
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This undated handout picture released by Sotheby's auction house in London on October 15, 2019, shows a painting entitle "Christine" by Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu, that sold for £1.1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million), after being originally valued at £100,000-150,000. - A painting by the Nigerian artist responsible for the "African Mona Lisa" sold at auction in London on October 15, 2019, for £1.1 million after the family who owned it googled the signature and realised its importance. The painting fetched over seven times the pre-auction estimate, finally going under the hammer for £1.1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million). "Christine", by 20th century master of African modernism Ben Enwonwu, had been in the sitter's family home ever since it was painted in Lagos in 1971. (Photo by Handout / SOTHEBY'S / AFP)
This undated handout picture released by Sotheby's auction house in London on October 15, 2019, shows a painting entitle "Christine" by Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu, that sold for £1.1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million), after being originally valued at £100,000-150,000. - A painting by the Nigerian artist responsible for the "African Mona Lisa" sold at auction in London on October 15, 2019, for £1.1 million after the family who owned it googled the signature and realised its importance. The painting fetched over seven times the pre-auction estimate, finally going under the hammer for £1.1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million). "Christine", by 20th century master of African modernism Ben Enwonwu, had been in the sitter's family home ever since it was painted in Lagos in 1971. (Photo by Handout / SOTHEBY'S / AFP)
This undated handout picture released by Sotheby’s auction house in London on October 15, 2019, shows a painting entitle “Christine” by Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu, that sold for £1.1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million), after being originally valued at £100,000-150,000. – A painting by the Nigerian artist responsible for the “African Mona Lisa” sold at auction in London on October 15, 2019, for £1.1 million after the family who owned it googled the signature and realised its importance. The painting fetched over seven times the pre-auction estimate, finally going under the hammer for £1.1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million). “Christine”, by 20th century master of African modernism Ben Enwonwu, had been in the sitter’s family home ever since it was painted in Lagos in 1971. (Photo by Handout / SOTHEBY’S / AFP)
A painting by the Nigerian artist responsible for the “African Mona Lisa” sold at auction in London on Tuesday for £1.1 million after the family who owned it googled the signature and realised its importance.
“Christine”, by 20th century master of African modernism Ben Enwonwu, had been in the sitter’s family home ever since it was painted in Lagos in 1971.
“The family were unaware of the significance of the painting or the importance of the artist, until a chance “googling” of the signature led them to Sotheby’s free Online Estimate Platform,” said the London auction house.
The painting fetched over seven times the pre-auction estimate, finally going under the hammer for £1.1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million).
The work precedes the artist’s 1974 painting of Ife royal princess Adetutu “Tutu” Ademiluyi, which recently turned up in a London flat after not being seen in decades.
